


Anarudi: The Tale Of The Lost Princes

by giftheck



Category: The Lion King (1994)
Genre: Amnesia, Family Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Relationship Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 13:50:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11647845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giftheck/pseuds/giftheck
Summary: This story is a complete rewrite of my previous ‘Anarudi’ story. The intro is mostly the same, minus the Battle of Pride Rock scene (which I deemed unnecessary) but everything after is new. This story ignores the events of Six New Adventures, instead taking a similar approach to its characters and events that LucasFilm has taken to its Star Wars Legends brand: elements and characters will appear but the stories are different.Disclaimer: The Lion King, its characters and settings are copyright Walt Disney Pictures.





	Anarudi: The Tale Of The Lost Princes

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a complete rewrite of my previous ‘Anarudi’ story. The intro is mostly the same, minus the Battle of Pride Rock scene (which I deemed unnecessary) but everything after is new. This story ignores the events of Six New Adventures, instead taking a similar approach to its characters and events that LucasFilm has taken to its Star Wars Legends brand: elements and characters will appear but the stories are different.
> 
> Disclaimer: The Lion King, its characters and settings are copyright Walt Disney Pictures.

**THE LION KING**

**ANARUDI: THE TALE OF THE LOST PRINCES**

** Zuberi **

It had been a very, very long time since the Pride Lands had been a place fit for Kings. The water holes and rivers had dried up. The fauna had died. Animal carcasses lay strewn across the Pride Lands. The herds had moved on. Some said it was because there was no food for them. Others said it was because the herds were being overhunted.

Scar, naturally, did not care. He blamed everything but himself, and of course, to Scar, only one thing mattered: he himself.

Mufasa, the previous King, and Scar’s older brother, had died, as had Simba, Mufasa’s son. Because both the King and the first-in-line had died, the right of succession came instead to Scar. At first, the pride had accepted Scar, even though he had done the unthinkable and brought the hyenas into the Pride Lands.

If they ever found out the truth, that Scar had killed Mufasa and had Simba killed as well, there would be hell to pay. As far as Scar was concerned, he was just taking what was rightfully his. That pathetic role of his younger years, the one stripped unceremoniously from him, had been nothing but an appetiser.

Not that long ago, Scar had been given a brilliant idea, by none other than the irritating dodo that once served as his brother’s majordomo. He needed to find himself a Queen, and he needed heirs – he wanted his line guaranteed forever. And so, he had tried to seduce Nala, one of the younger lionesses in the pride. She had not responded warmly, and Scar took that rejection badly. He was ready to banish Nala from the Pride Lands and declare all the other lionesses his, when the unexpected happened. One night, Sarafina had approached him and had offered herself willingly on the condition that he left Nala alone.

When he was younger, Scar had harboured an unrequited love for Sarafina, but those feelings turned bitter after Scar lost the Lion Guard and Sarafina openly rejected him, instead choosing a lion from outside the pride. Scar had reacted furiously. He led Sarafina’s mate to the elephant graveyard, and allowed the hyenas to kill him. By then, however, it was too late: Sarafina had given birth to Nala.

Scar had given his word that he would not lay a paw on Nala. However, Sarafina’s betrayal of him burned bright. When he took Sarafina, he silently vowed Nala would still be his.

Sarafina had borne a single cub from that encounter. She had named it Mheetu, and Scar had rejected it, deeming it too weak. He did not want Sarafina’s cub to be heir. Scar’s cruelty towards Sarafina, his need to avenge himself for the wrong she had committed on him, lead him to take the cub from her and gift it to another lioness in the pride.

Tamani was Scar’s most loyal follower. Despite this, she was not thrilled with being given a cub that was Scar’s but not her own. She herself had not long come into the Pride Lands, and was expecting cubs herself. Resenting the progeny of a rival, Tamani had mockingly renamed the cub Nuka, and would come to neglect him in later years. She convinced Scar that, once her cubs were born, he could choose one of those as his heir.

But Scar, of course, was not one put all of his bones in one pile. And the only lioness that had so far proved elusive was the one that he desired most. Nala and Sarafina were one thing, but they had not belonged to Mufasa. Sarabi had been Mufasa’s queen, and what better symbol that he owned everything that was once Mufasa’s could there be? Sarabi had avoided him like the plague after hearing about Scar turning most of the pride’s lionesses into concubines. He had become so obsessed by the idea of an heir, he had the hyenas corner her one day, and he had taken her. It wasn’t difficult: she was weakened from lack of food and surrounded by hyenas. Scar had done the act and then left her out in the cold. Months down the line, she had given birth to a cub. Scar saw the cub, its golden coat and realised that it resembled Mufasa, and looked a lot like Simba. It was as if the Great Kings were punishing him with constant reminders that he would never be the true King. As a consequence, as he had done to several other cubs, Scar rejected the cub. Instead, as he had agreed with Tamani, he chose one of the two cubs that she had given birth to. He named the cub himself: Kovu, the cub that would grow up to be Scar’s heir.

******

Meanwhile, Sarabi passed her young cub into Nala’s care.

“I’m too old to raise a cub, Nala. Too tired.” Sarabi told her, “And in my care, he would certainly perish. I can no longer stand up to Scar. You’re still young. You have a chance.”

“I’ve never even had cubs of my own.” Nala replied, “I mean… if I wanted cubs… it would have been with…” Nala’s voice trailed off. Even now it hurt to even mention Simba’s name.

“I know…” Sarabi said, “Not a day goes by when I don’t miss Simba, or Mufasa. But they’re not here. You’re young, Nala. You might have the chance to get away. And when you do, please, take Kopa with you.”

“Kopa, huh…” Nala looked down at the little cub, who looked so much like Simba it hurt.

“He can’t grow up here, Nala.” Sarabi told her, “Scar will see him as a threat, and he will kill him, especially now he has chosen his heir. The hyenas have already killed several of the other cubs under Scar’s orders. That lion is a monster.”

“I… I’ll try, Sarabi. I’ll try.” Nala told her.

******

Of course, it couldn’t last. If making Kopa resemble Mufasa was the will of the Great Kings, then other things were to happen that would get on Scar’s nerves. Nala ran away from the Pride Lands to find help. She never found it: there were not many who could stand up to Scar and his hyenas. Even tracking down old friends Malka, Chumvi and Tojo had borne no fruit. They couldn’t even take Kopa off Nala’s hands while she searched for help.

Then one day, she happened upon Tama and a dark lion by the name of Haiba. Tama was one of Nala’s oldest friends. She and her mother had fled the Pride Lands shortly after Scar’s rise to power. And what’s more, she had her own cubs.

As it turned out, Haiba had been near the Pride Lands a short time before Tamani and her group were accepted by Scar into the pride. And what was worse was that it turned out that Haiba was the father of Kovu and Vitani, Tamani’s two cubs. He swore he had been tricked by Tamani, that she had offered him a home when he did not have one. And when the deed was done, she had rejected him and left him stranded, until Haiba happened upon Tama and her cubs.

Tama vouched for Haiba, saying he had been a good father to her cubs, and that if Nala left Kopa there, he would be safe until she could find help.

That day, Nala headed for the jungle in search of food, and it would be the day that would change everything. She never expected that the warthog that was to be her meal would bring her face-to-face with a friend from the past she long considered gone.

******

Scar had sent Tamani into the Northern Prairie to search for food while he attended to the matter of Sarabi’s mutinous hunting party.

There was nothing of value left in the Northern Prairie: it was as deserted as the Pride Lands were. Lightning had brewed overhead and it had started to rain. Tamani and her group were returning to the Pride Lands when she heard a very unfamiliar roar. Her gaze turned to Pride Rock. There was smoke rising from Pride Rock. She could hear answering roars. She knew full-well what that meant, but hoped it didn’t.

“Move!” Tamani ordered her party. They sped up into the Pride Lands towards Pride Rock. On their way, they passed hyenas running away from Pride Rock. Tamani’s mind grew cold with dread. The hyenas being forced away could only mean one thing.

“You!” Tamani barked at one of the passing hyenas, “What has gone on? Where is Scar?”

“Good riddance to that traitor!” the hyena replied, “That little brat can have his kingdom back!”

Tamani’s heart clenched. She had to know what had gone on at Pride Rock for certain. She had to know Scar was okay.

“To Pride Rock! Quickly!” Tamani said, rushing at full pace to Pride Rock. She got there in time to see an unfamiliar lion at the peak.

“Scar… no…” Tamani breathed. The hyenas were gone and this lion stood in the spot that belonged to Scar. The lionesses had already started filing up to the den of Pride Rock. They had accepted this lion as King… this outsider…

And if this lion was now King, it meant Scar had been killed.

“Murderer…” Tamani snarled into the dirt, “You will pay for killing Scar.” She vowed.

******

Agony. True, unchecked, full-blown agony. That was what he felt as fire seared over him, burning into his skin.

Thought had fled him as he limped away from Pride Rock. The hyenas had mostly fled when the fire started to consume them. Had they stayed, the rains might have proven to be his downfall, because he was still alive, despite the grievous injuries he had sustained.

The pain was unbearable. He just wanted to be taken by the black stillness of death. And yet, somehow, by some miracle, or some curse, he was not.

The pain was so intense, his injuries so bad, that when he wandered, he didn’t know nor care where he was. He didn’t know or care what had happened. And eventually, he succumbed, but he would not die.

Instead, the agony took his memory, and very nearly took his sanity with it. He forgot everything: his name, where he was from, what he had done with his life.

All he could remember was the pain, the fire, those creatures tearing at him.

A voice called to him. He couldn’t make it out, but it called a name that he had forgotten, a name that he had forsaken. Maybe the pain had finally driven him mad.

But one day, the agony subsided a little, enough for him to come back to himself, even though what was lost was not likely to return.

And for the first time, he heard that name clearly.

‘ _Zuberi…_ ’

The voice was familiar, and yet, he had no memory of that voice, or that name. But he had to take that name, because without it, he didn’t remember having one.

And so, from that day, the heavily-scarred dark lion called himself Zuberi, and he disappeared into the savannah.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that likely will not get updated often. I have the plot laid out, I know where the story will go, but at this moment in time I am focused on finishing my "Reconciliation" series of stories for Zootopia.
> 
> The title of the story, “Anarudi”, is Swahili for “Return”.
> 
> Name meanings:
> 
> Zuberi –Strong (Swahili)  
> Tamani – desire (Swahili)  
> Nuka – Stink (Swahili)


End file.
